Sunni Muslim Group Issues Fatwa Against A R Rahman

New Delhi: The Mumbai based Sunni Muslim group Reza Academy issued a fatwa against musician A R Rahman for scoring the music of Muhammad: The Messenger of God, a film by the renowned Iranian director Majid Majidi.

The musician reacted to the fatwa in following words

“I didn’t direct or produce the movie… I just did the music. My spiritual experiences working on the film are very personal, and I would prefer not to share these ... My decision to compose the music for this film was made in good faith with no intention of causing offence.”

The Iranian government, through its Embassy in New Delhi, while criticizing the fatwa has offered its support to the film.

"The film of Majid Majidi is an artistic work and any opinion about it should be expressed only after seeing it... launching hot discussions before seeing the film may be wrong, illogical and incorrect," said the embassy's release as reported by TOI.

The All India Shia Muslim Personal Board has also slammed the fatwa issued by the Raza Academy.

On Wednesday, the VHP asked A R Rahman to reconvert to Hinduism saying that it was time for his “Ghar Wapsi.”

“We will not only welcome him with open arms but also ensure that no harm is done to him irrespective of how many fatwas are issued," Surendra Jain, the VHP joint general secretary said.

Following the controversy, the eminent poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar on Thursday criticized the Sunni Muslim group Reza Academy for its fatwa. Akhtar appealed to all the secular people of the world to come together saying that fundamentalists from all the religions across the world have similar mindset.

"It's uncanny how the fundamentalists of different religions are simiar. Let me go into history. When Tulsidas translated into Rmayan in Awadhi as Ramcharitmanas. He was boycotted by the brahmin society and he has to live out of the city. After 200 years of this incident Shah Quadir of this incident a gentleman in Delhi translated Quoran in Urdu and he was given fatwas from all Mullas of that time that how dare he translate the holy book in such a dirty language called Urdu. So their mindset and their attitude has always been the same," the writer said in an interview to India Today.

"The fact is this battle is not between two communities. This battle is between communalists and secularists. So all secular Hindus...all liberal Hindus, all liberal Muslims should be one side. Let all these people on the other side because they are similar. Because they are the same, they are made of same mettle and they should be rejected,” he further added.

Reza Academy denouncing Muhammad: A Messenger of God, has been slammed by Iran and several scholars for issuing Fatwa against the movie and everyone working for it. A R Rahman, its music director, has given his justification for doing the music in good faith.

(image courtesy: https://goo.gl/y7m57R)

The views expressed here are those of the authors and doesn’t reflect the official
policy of Janpratinidhi.
The views expressed here are those of the authors and doesn’t reflect the official
policy of Janpratinidhi.